New Zealand petrol review

In 2008 the Ministry of Economic Development conducted a review into the factors impacting on the competitiveness of the New Zealand petrol market.  This included an assessment of the applicability of an Australian market review to the New Zealand market. A key recommendation of this review was to promote transparency in retail petrol and diesel pricing.

The report concluded that:

• The New Zealand petrol market is fundamentally competitive.
• Retail petrol prices are not fast to rise and slow to fall.
• Price rises during 2008 were mainly due to increases in the international crude oil price.
• A Fuelwatch scheme like Australia’s wouldn’t benefit consumers, because our market works differently.
• More transparency about the makeup of importer margins and a move to report daily margin movements would be useful for consumers.

As a result, the Ministry’s monitoring of margins achieved by retailers was strengthened to further enhance the transparency of the retail price.

Related Links

Review into the 2007 ACCC report into Australian petrol prices and applicability to the New Zealand petrol market [706 kB PDF].

Weekly oil price monitoring

Government to improve monitoring of petrol prices